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Friday, July 22, 2016

Royal Caribbean 7 Night Eastern Caribbean Cruise Recap

If you would like to see all my travel posts, including recaps, tips & recommendations and packing guides, please visit my travel page.

I have mentioned a time or two that I am quite obsessive about planning, especially when it comes to travel. I like to do a lot when I travel, and the planning is one of my favourite parts. However, because I plan, I plan everything and cram as much as possible into our trips. That's fine and all, but KC requested a more relaxing vacation where I didn't plan our every move, which is why we chose a cruise.

We booked the cruise through Casey at Road Less Traveled Vacations. I'd been following her blog for ages so I felt like I knew and trusted her, and I highly recommend her for any type of vacation. She was extremely helpful.

But on to the cruise! We went on a 7 night Eastern Caribbean Cruise on the Oasis of the Seas. We left out of Ft Lauderdale and went to Nassau (Bahamas), Charlotte Amalie (St Thomas) and Basseterre (St Kitts). We also had 3 cruising/sea days. I chose this one because a) KC wanted to go back to Nassau, he went on a cruise when he was 17 and liked that port, and b) I thought the sea days would help me not plan our every waking moment, whereas I would probably over-plan if we had more ports.

So, we left on a Friday afternoon. No direct flights from Louisville, so we stopped in.... Baltimore I think. and we missed our second flight. Yep. Completely my fault/the result of miscommunication. Thankfully, even though the next flight was full (and it was the last flight of the night) we were put on standby and were able to get on and sit together.

Segue, I love Southwest so much. We have a rewards credit card with them, so we haven't had to pay for a flight in a couple of years, but you'd never know from the way they treat us. I used to have a rewards program with Delta, I flew from Sydney to Louisville many, many times, and barely racked up enough points to fly my mum over here for the wedding (we had to buy more miles). They changed the flight a million times, the layovers were like 12+ hours and we had a few other issues. I have nothing against Delta and don't mind flying with them internationally if need be, and though they denied it (naturally) I really do believe they punish or at least put people at the bottom of the priority list when they book with miles. That's just my personal experience, and I will avoid flying with them using miles again. Anyway - point is, we have used miles with Southwest for like 10 flights in the past few years and never once have they changed our flight or given the impression that we were the lowest on the priority list because of that. Plus, they are cheap.

Moving on. We stayed at the Hyatt Pier 66. We'd asked for a king bed, but when we arrived, there wasn't any. No big deal, but they offered us complimentary breakfast regardless. Sweet, thanks. We had no issues with them until we were trying to check out and they charged us for the breakfast. We told them we were given a voucher, they took the charge off. We got home, they had charged the card. Ugh. I had to call several times to have it refunded (it was honestly outrageously expensive, otherwise I'd let it slide) and the staff kept giving me different answers. Anyway! I hate to sound like I am complaining, I would still recommend this hotel, just don't take their 'free breakfast'.

The hotel has a shuttle, but it's a separate company and is like $7 each I think? I forget. There was a bunch of people waiting, so we just decided to catch a taxi, and it worked out cheaper. Plus, the driver was super friendly and fun. There was a bit of a line when we got there, but it moved pretty fast and the staff were helpful. I was honestly still stressing and thinking something had to go wrong soon, I wasn't going to feel comfortable until we'd checked in and were on the ship. There was a bit of a hiccup with me and my green card/passport, but nothing like Dublin thank goodness. I think the whole process took less than an hour.

Then we were on the ship! It was probably the only time you really felt like there were 6,000 passengers on the ship, there were a lot of staff everywhere trying to help/sell you stuff, and all the places to eat were completely spilling over with people. We had our priorities straight and got some alcohol first.

Then the staterooms were ready. I don't know anything about the process of getting your bags, I assume you check them in kind of like an airline and then they show up in front of your stateroom anywhere between boarding and like late evening. We heard people saying they hadn't got their bags yet as we were leaving for dinner. Obviously we didn't deal with that as we carried our bags on - I was worried that I would have to 'check' them with the cruise, but nope. No issues.

Once we had dropped our bags off and snagged our soft drink cups, we went exploring. We also grabbed a few more cocktails because why not.

That night we went to our only 'specialty restaurant'. We went there because they give discounts on the first night, and because we had an onboard credit to use. I was told the dress code was pretty fancy schmancy, so I dressed up, and made KC wear a button down. Unfortunately, we were definitely overdressed! Maybe it's because it was the first night. The food was great though, and the servers were really awesome. We ate at Chops Grille, I believe it's on most Royal Caribbean ships, but that's a total guess so don't hold me to it.

The next day was Nassau! We originally had a shore excursion booked to the Atlantis waterpark, which I was SO excited about. But - we were only docked from 7am-2pm. The waterpark didn't open until like 10am. You have to be back on the ship by 1:30pm. I'm a worrier, so I'd want to be on the ship by 1pm. So that leaves 3 hours at a waterpark that was almost $400 for the both of us. Add that to the accident and insurance deductible we had to pay a week before we left, it just didn't make any sense. I'm really glad we ended up cancelling it, as we spoke to several people who did it and said that the time crunch really ruined the experience and you didn't get to do much. We ended up just walking around Nassau. We got off the ship at like 8am or something, so lots of things weren't even open, plus it was a Sunday and lots of things were just closed. We had fun though, stopped at a few bars and whatnot. Had way too much to drink!

^ That instagram sign made me laugh. We got off the ship pretty early and I thought it was funny. When we were walking back to the ship, the line was so long! Like 50 people at least.

Once we got back on the ship, several cocktails and beers later, we did what most drunk people do. Got burgers and milkshakes followed by a nap (because we felt so sick after the alcohol and burgers!).

That night was our first formal night, and thankfully we were not overdressed this time.

After dinner we hit up the pub on the ship. They didn't have any cocktails that looked good to me, plus I'd been drinking all day so I said no thank you. The bartender wasn't having any of that, so he asked me what I liked and whipped me up a fun and delicious bubblegum cocktail.

The next day was a cruising/sea day. We did pretty much nothing except lay by the pool, drink, nap, read and eat. It was pretty fabulous.

That night, we were going to see the Oasis of Dreams show, but unfortunately it was cancelled due to weather (after we sat there for 45 mins, no big deal).We consoled ourselves with ice cream and an early bed time.

The next day was our favourite, we had a shore excursion in Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas. It was called 'FastCat' 2-Island Snorkeling Safari and Beach Getaway. It was so.much.fun. I can't even fully explain how much fun we had. First off, we all knew we'd get wet, but we had no idea we'd be getting absolutely utterly drenched on the way out there. Thankfully, I'd put my phone in my waterproof case (seriously best $10 I ever spent, not an affiliate link!) and we were wearing our swimming stuff. Some people were not prepared though and their bags and stuff got soaked. Some people were super pissed about it, but KC and I couldn't stop laughing.

^ The photo on the left is when we were pulling out of Charlotte Amalie, and the photo on the right is like 10 minutes into our journey. The boat was moving super fast and water was flying everywhere so it's not the best photo, but it was hilarious. My tank top was sopping wet and KC just took his shirt off. So funny.

We got to our first destination, one of the two islands, and we all hopped out and snorkeled. I'd never snorkeled before, I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty scared. But it was beyond fine. I took my phone with me in that little case, I didn't take any underwater photos, but it took above water photos fine, and I shoved it in my life jacket floaty thingy when we were swimming and it was totally fine. We saw sea turtles and lots of fish. The turtles were so freaking cool.

After that little adventure, we got back on the boat and went to the next island. There was food and whatnot, but we weren't there for very long so we just chilled in the water and kept drinking 'painkillers'.

As I'm sure you can deduce from the photos, we'd had quite a bit to drink, though we had an absolute blast. We had another nap before dinner.

The next day was our stop at St Kitts. We had another shore excursion booked, but this one wasn't until later in the day, so we walked around Basseterre, really just the port, for a bit.

They had a few shops there, and I assume because they are part of the Commonwealth or used to be a British Colony, they had tons of English aka Australian goodies, as in food. There were tons of chocolates and such, but I behaved and only got a (huge jumbo) bag of chupa chups. Chupa chups are just lollipops but they are legit everywhere in Australia, and you just grow up eating them all the time. Things might have changed since I moved of course, but these were such a huge part of my life (calm down Kristen, they are lollipops) that I knew I had to buy some when I saw them.

The second shore excursion we did was a rum tasting at an old plantation. I have basically no photos of the rum tasting because it was very dark, but the plantation itself was beautiful and the views were gorgeous. I really like rum in cocktails and such, but I'm not really a fan of anything straight, though they had a bunch of flavours (vanilla, coffee, lime) so that was fun.

After that, we were back on the ship. We definitely enjoyed the rum tasting and the little history tour the driver gave us, but nothing topped St Thomas. It was just too much fun.

That night we had another dinner with a couple of desserts, and we went to see the ice skating show - it was called Frozen or something, but it was a bunch of Hans Christian Andersen Fairytales. I am always in awe of people who can do things like ice skate and all the flips and whatnot. It was extremely entertaining.

As I'm sure you can tell, KC doesn't share my love of a million photos. Didn't even see him making the face until I saw the photo. I made him take another one after that, but this one is definitely more 'us'.

After that, we had 2 more sea days. Lots of relaxing, eating, etc.

Second last night was the second formal night. People definitely didn't take this one as seriously, one couple (that entertained us every night, but they didn't know that) turned up in their swim stuff.

^ This is legit my new phone background. I don't know why I find it so funny and adorable, but I do. KC says I make the funniest/cutest faces when I don't like something (his example: when I drink Guinness) but his faces are just so 'womp womp, this sucks' and it made me laugh far too hard.

The last full day was another sea day, and I think we were both ready to be home by then. It's hard to know how long you will want to spend anywhere, including a cruise, but I think 7 nights might have been a bit much for us. We had another lazy, relaxing day.

^ They had fish n chips & pavlova on the last night. Guess how many pavlovas I had? hahaha. The table next to us were like wtf why are you so obsessed, what is that stuff? Then they ordered it and were as obsessed with it as me. Delicious.

Funny story, there were like 4 groups of 6 (or 8?) elevators, and every time we got on one we saw the 'name' on the floor. We thought all the elevators had different names, named after different days of the week. We were like oh we haven't been on Wednesday before! It took us until Saturday, the last day, like literally the day we got off the ship, to realise they changed the insert thingys each day. I assume it is to remind you what day it is. When we realised what idiots we were, we could not stop laughing.

Another funny story, I've never seen a legit sunrise. I mean, I have seen the sun rise. But I've never like sat and watched it somewhere I could see it properly. I kept saying to KC that we should get up one morning and watch it, but we didn't. I also thought maybe we'd sleep with the blinds open, but our next door neighbours kept their light on all night so it was annoying. Plus the sun was rising at like 5am each morning and I was too lazy for that. Anyway! So we had a bit of a spat on the last night (as you do) and the next morning, he woke me up as a surprise to go see the sunrise! At 4:30am! Which would have been sweet! Except because we were pulling into Ft Lauderdale, the sun didn't rise until like 6:30. Again, when we realised this, all we could do was laugh. I mean, if you can't laugh... what's the point, right?

It eventually caught up to us though, so I took plenty of photos. There were people out there with legit hardcore cameras and I'm over here with my iphone. No shame in my game.

The views really never got old. I mean, look at that!

I know this was beyond a ridiculously obscene amount of photos, but one of my favourite things about having a blog is recording my travels. I love looking back on my travel posts a few months or even years down the line, they never fail to make me smile. The other day someone asked me about Paris and I was looking at that post thinking to myself holy cow, you went to Paris! KC mentioned the other day he'd love to go back to Italy, and I started thinking about Rome. Of course, whenever I want a dose of home, I look back over my Australia post. I love looking back on my travel posts, and I certainly don't expect other people to get the same joy from these posts, so you'll have to forgive me for oversharing. Some of these things are once in a lifetime for me, and I love that I can record them and look at them any time I want.

I did want to mention a few things because some people asked me or I spoke to them about it before we left:

1. We did have wifi on the ship. You have to pay for it, obviously, but when we booked, there was a special that gave you 'free' wifi for one device. KC and I could both use it (they give you a code) but not at the same time. I'm not normally a fan of being on the internet or social media all the time on vacation, but I do like the ability to check work emails and send pictures to my mum. KC also likes to keep up with sports, because there always seems to be something important going on while we are on vacation.

2. We got a drink package. You don't have to get one of these, you can either drink what is included every day/night, or just pay for what you drink, but I know what KC is like and I used the same logic when we got the Disney dining plan. I'd rather pay for a package of some sort upfront, and not have to worry about anything. That's just my personal preference. Everything was included for us -bottled water, specialty coffee (not starbucks), soda, wine, beer, cocktails. They do specials on the drink packages as the cruise goes on, either discounted or things like 10 drinks for $70, so you could just wait for that.

3. You'd have a hard time falling off the ship. I was legit worried about this. There are barriers everywhere, and KC explained something about how they are taller than your centre of gravity, so the likelihood of you falling by accident is slim. Of course you could probably still jump or whatever, but yeah. If you are clumsy and trip over things all the time, like me, you don't have to worry that you'll trip and fall off the ship.

4. Open water is not that scary. Okay, this is a weird one, but again is what I was worried/scared about before we left. I am not a fan of open water. The thought of being out in the middle of the ocean if something happens (thanks Titanic and Poseidon) scares the crap out of me. Here's a trick I learned to keep my fears in check: don't stand anywhere on the ship that you can see both sides, or both ends. Actually, it's pretty hard to do that anyway. If you are on the left side, you can't see the right side. Front, you can't see the back. I was not really this delusional, but it's like my brain forgot we were out in the middle of the ocean if it couldn't see both sides. I could pretend there was land on the other side. I wasn't scared once. Again, this might seem silly to those not afraid.

5. You can't really feel the ship sway. Sometimes you can, and one night at dinner it was very noticeable. But for the most part, you couldn't feel it at all. It stormed every single night while we were sleeping and we didn't feel a thing.

6. It doesn't feel like you're in a small space with 6,000+ people. Apparently we had over 6,500 passengers, and like 2-3,000 crew. It never felt that way, it was very busy when we got on the ship, and the shore excursions process wasn't super organised so there were a lot of people standing around, but in terms of other things - waiting for elevators, getting food, finding a table or pool chair, it was fine. I mean, it was still a bit crowded, but not so crowded that you couldn't move or go where you wanted to go.

7. Royal Caribbean was great. The staff were fabulous, the ship was clean, the food was good, there is tons to do etc etc. I highly recommend. I also think they are very family friendly, well really any age friendly. We saw tons of families, babies, teenagers, seniors, whatever. I think they cater to everyone.

64 comments:

i loved this recap!!! st. thomas for you was how st. kitts was for me - the best stop ever. and the painkillers - aren't they just amazing? after i had two, i was like, um i can't feel my face. by two, i mean 5.

i really read the whole thing haha. and i used to eat all the chupa chups too :) love those. what great photos and recap! i really read the whole thing too, so proud haha. now i wanna go to the beach and see the ocean. and that sunrise! heavenly ;)

Haha it might be the longest post ever but it had a lot of great pics! I recognize that blue dress! ;) You look gorgeous in it! And I can't get over how much the boat doesn't look like you're on a boat when walking around it! Crazy! You're definitely making me want to go on a cruise soon! <3, Pamela Sequins & Sea Breezes

My mom actually won a cruise for 2 people accidentally and she invited Teh German and I to go with her. I'm not sure where the stops are, but I'm interested since I've only done the one cruise to Mexico from LA before. I would love to be able to find a diving adventure because diving is the BEST. We were able to sneak on liquor, which helped and we only did a 3 day. I'd probably end up doing a drink package for a 7 day. That photo is super funny with KC's disgruntled face.YAY for sunrise photos!

I detest Nassau and never want to go back there. LOL. You had a really short time in port there! I hate that. St. Thomas, I loved. I'd definitely go back there. Our next cruise takes us to St. Kitts, I've never been.

Ah, you two are so cute. Dying over here with the sunrise story, glad you got to see one anyhow. :) We really loved the cruise we took for similar reasons... less planning, more inclusive things, more time that we (had to (me)) relax. It was great. I do the same thing you do in planning ALL THE THINGS. SO we loved that about cruising. We just picked a random one. I think it was Carnival - we didn't have super formal nights, but we enjoyed it and didn't have any issues. :) We'll see, we might go on a future cruise someday, KC has made some of the same mentions. So glad you guys had a blast! :) Favorite dessert... hmm ... not sure. I loove cookies. But more as a snack, lol, #sohealthy . Probably some type of a pie or crumble. I like fruit desserts. But Tiramisu is really good... hhaha XO - Alexandra

Great post. I've been very curious to read about your cruising experience, especially because you were on RC and I've never cruised with them before. Isn't Oasis of the Seas on the RC's biggest ships in their fleet? That ship looks like a beast!

Ah, yes... Painkillers in St. Thomas. I remember those. LOL!

I agree, 7 days on a cruise may be too long, especially with 3 days at sea. Had there been another port of call, 7 days might have felt just right. I'm not a huge fan of the days at sea, so I've always leaned towards cruises with the fewest number of days at sea.

My favorite dessert is creme brûlée, by the way... :) I enjoyed looking at all your photos. Have a great weekend!

So much fun!! When I went on a Caribbean cruise with a friend and her family a few years back, it was (and still is) one of the BEST vacations I've ever had. Such a good time - thanks for sharing all the great pics! xx

So many questions-- I may have missed this, but did you guys totally splurge on your room? It looks so nice and so big-- I guess I've always had it in my mind that rooms on cruise ships were really tiny? Also, there is an ice rink on the boat?! WHAT? Love your purple dress & a bubblegum cocktail sounds delicious! This looks like the most fun vacation ever and I love that you got the days at sea to just relax and then you still were able to do a few excursions and explore new places. I know you mentioned the drink package, but is everything else you ate while on the ship included? And then you just pay out of pocket for things when you're at the ports?

You make me want to do a cruise & I NEVER have wanted to do a cruise. I'm so afraid of being sick the entire time.YOU LOOK GORGEOUS! All those dresses! & I LOVE your bathing suit. Super cute!I love all the laughter you two had... was it the drinks? ;) haha ... nope it was love. I swooned a little that he woke you up for the sunrise after a spat - that's what marriage is all about.I honestly cant wrap my mind around how big those boats are. I mean, the restaurants & 'streets' look like something in a town - not on a boat. Blows my mind.

You all are absolutely precious, that black and white halter one piece suit thing is adorable & so flattering, you're rocking it.

I've only done one cruise & it was an Alaskan one, so sort of a different vibe. I was underage & with my parents, so yeah.

I love doing travel recaps & reading others. My Montenegro one made me go read all of my others & then made me kick my butt into gear for planning my next adventure. Which was good, because I love planning those types of things. But it really is a lot of moving pieces in a complicated puzzle!

Incredible photos! This looks so fun and relaxing too. I can definitely completely relate to what you are saying about being scared of the open water so I'm glad you addressed that - it is one of my biggest fears about taking a cruise someday but what you're saying makes a lot of sense. It looks like you guys had such a fun time together :)

Ahh I loved reading this! Recapping my vacations is one of the reasons I started a blog in the first place. I love being able to look back and read about such good memories. My good friend actually works for Royal Carribbean and works with the kids club/youth staff. She could have even worked on this ship in the past!

I have so much I could say about this post! I love cruising and we've been on 3, but we've only done Carnival, I definitely want to give Royal Caribbean and Norwegian a try! Your excursions at your second port look like so much fun! Snorkeling is the coolest! It looks like you guys had a great time!

Chuppa Chups! I had to laugh, I got excited every time I saw them in Europe.

Your beach photos are making me drool. Is it bad that I already need another vacation?

I've done a couple of Norwegian cruises, and I think the dining is different. It sounds like you had assigned dinner seating? On Norwegian they have sit down restaurants you can go to (some free, some not) but the main dining it a giant buffet that's open 24/7 and you just go grab food whenever you want. But your ship looks way bigger than the ones I went on.

This post is making me get the cruise itch again! I'm so glad that you had such a great time and had a good mix of doing and relaxing on your trip! The ship looks beautiful, I would definitely want the drink package too, and the snorkeling excursion looked like so much fun! That picture of KC drinking wine is so hilarious! I also 100% agree with you about southwest! We're stranded in Oklahoma City right now because of engine trouble and they brought out snacks and drinks for us. They've also rearranged flights for us because of delays too! I hate flying with anybody else!

great post! i've never been on a cruise but it sounds like it'd be fun to take a short one to some islands eventually! my favorite part about going to the bahamas is snorkeling and being on a speedboat so im glad you had fun doing those two things! also i LOVE your white and black bathing suit! xo jillian - cornflake dreams

I love trip recaps! The longer the better as far as I'm concerned. Remembering and reliving travel memories is basically the entire reason for my blog, ha. I have to say, this looks like SO much fun and I'm extremely jealous, especially of all the sitting in the sun and reading time. I really need a sun and book holiday! Anyway, so glad you had a good time and enjoyed the ports you visited plus ship time. I cannot get over how big your boat is - the photo of the restaurant looks like it's in a normal street! I have one main question, how was the gluten free food??? Enough/tasty?

Jesse and I really want to go on a cruise but keep booking other trips instead as we don't know for certain whether we'll love it (and I feel like you always hear "2,000 passengers on INSERT CRUISE NAME came down with INSERT AWFUL VIRUS" hahaha). Perhaps we need to bite the bullet and book one in!

That stinks that you went to Nassau when a lot of things weren't opened and it was for a short time, but it sounds like you made the best of it. I am dying over all the food pictures. Yum!!! I have never really wanted to go on a cruise because of all my fears of being on the open water, something happening to the ship, getting sea sick, and feeling claustrophobic on a boat. But seeing some of your pictures, it looks more like it's own little city not a boat.

I started to write a comment for this a couple days ago, but it wasn't good enough to encompass the awesomeness of this post. These photos crack me up. Y'all really look like best friends. And you've highlighted the merits of cruises! Especially the napping, reading, and relaxing part. I'm about to plan a cruise all because of this post, hahaha. And with Royal Caribbean, which seemed to be a good company to go with even before I read this, but you just sealed it for me. I'm glad y'all had fun :D

So many fun pictures! I am totally the type to pack our entire trip full, and Jordan just wants to relax so I feel you! The last few trips we've taken, I've tried not to go crazy and plan stuff but at the same time I want to make the most of it!

This makes me want to plan a cruise for our next vacation!! The ship looked great - all your outfits that you planned worked perfectly for the trip and the fancier dinners!! All the ports on this cruise were fantastic - I've really wanted to go to St. Kitts! xo, Biana -BlovedBoston

So fun! I've never been on a cruise so I always absorb people's posts about them. I can't picture a vacation like that but they obviously always look so fun and gorgeous!!!! Um, your hubby is totally with mine on the photos ... his face will eventually just start melting away after the 1,000th pic. ha!!! And SW does have great customer service, I still cannot believe you get TWO FREE BAGS. Not one, but TWO!

I think you should become a travel agent yourself, lol. I am obsessed with all your travel recaps, and it makes me want to go somewhere like now. I'm SO glad that you had a blast in St. Thomas - that's where we went on our honeymoon, and I'll never forget it. I'm jealous you got to snorkel with the turtles because that's the one thing that we missed out on. I think you've convinced me to look further into a cruise for our next vacation - it seems equal parts fun and relaxing. And, I'll take your word for it that it doesn't feel like you're constantly being crowded by people.

That ship is massive. And your room is awesome! I'm a vacation-over planner, too. Haha. K gets annoyed with me. And we almost ALWAYS fight on the second to last day or last night of vacations. Hahaha. Pretty typical- especially being on a cruise for 7 days :) I tried to wake up early for a Jamaican sunrise once- I waited until the last morning- and it was STORMING SO MUCH. Hahaha!

We took a cruise for our honeymoon and we only felt the ship sway when we were in bed and once at dinner. And ours was much smaller than yours. Now I need to go book another cruise! Haha!

I love your travel recaps . . . and I agree, it's great to look back on these posts and you remember small details you have forgotten. We've never done a Royal Caribbean cruise and are thinking on it so this was super helpful! I've never seen St. Thomas or St. Kitts - this would be a good one for us! I love all the pics too - you look fabulous but I especially love the formal blue dress - simply stunning!

So much to say.......You are adorable. But, I tell you this often enough, don't I?Next, that blue dress...stunning on you.Next, that striped tank top (singlet)...you know that they say horizontal stripes aren't flattering? I say b.s. That shirt looks great on you!I can't believe this was your first snorkeling experience AND it sounds like you saw more marine life than I did at the Great Barrier Reef.I love Southwest Airlines and miss its loyalty program. I've primarily flown Qantas for 8 years, and I still have not accumulated enough points for a free (international) flight.I've been on a cruise once. I said I'd never really care to go again. BUT...Liam sees the cruise ships docked at Circular Quay and talks about wanting to go on one...and you make it sound so fun.....

Your cruise looks like so much fun! I've never been on one so I didn't really know what to expect from them but seeing your post was very helpful. The inside of it kind of reminds me of a shopping mall or something like that. It's cool that you got to have as many drinks as you want, that's what I love about all inclusive vacations because the entire time you don't have to worry about paying for food or drinks.

I did an Eastern Caribbean cruise on Carnival a few years back for 10 days, 4 stops (it was a little too long lol) and our boat was smaller than yours. Yours looks pretty amazing! Did you have a hard time getting off at each port? People would pack in waiting to get off the boat and it was madness. That's why I didn't really like the cruise. But if a bigger boat is easier I'd totally go again!

I legit wanted to be on this cruise with you from your snaps! And good to know they have drink packages. We'd def drink our weight in booze on one of these things! You looked simply lovely in that blue dress. Glad y'all had a great time!

This looks like a fabulous vacation! I wish I was there! I feel like Tom would be like that couple who showed up in their swim stuff and I would probably go along with it so he wouldn't feel ridiculous even though he totally should. I'm also really glad you addressed my fears of falling off of the ship and open water in general. Seriously those two things have kept me from thinking that I want to go on a cruise.

Sounds like such a fun trip!! I am going on a cruise with my mom and aunts in the winter and I legit cannot wait! I just ordered those phone case protector things for our Mexico trip next month, so genius!! St. Thomas looks awesome too!

Nice to know to avoid the "free" breakfast, that stinks. I wish most hotels did the free continental breakfast. Where else am I going to eat breakfast when I get up? When we stayed in Niagara Falls, the breakfast price was outrageous. I have one of those same little waterproof phone baggies! We also used it on a boat, so handy :). I love you guys' pictures! All those food and drinks look so good, and gorgeous beaches. Haha that is too funny you guys waited two hours to see the sun rise, but I'm glad it was beautiful.

I do the something with my travel posts. I love going back to my Europe posts and reading them and looking at the pictures. It's a great way to remember what you did and how much fun you had! :)

I think my girlfriends and I have decided to go on a Royal Caribbean cruise next June! There will be 6 of us and we are pretty excited to start planning everything and seeing your pictures have made me 100 times more excited! :) I'm glad you and KC had a blast!

YES! Love Southwest's credit cards! We've had two different types with them and have loved having their companion pass with the Premier card. Like you guys, we haven't paid for a flight in years! :) {We are using American for our international trip this year so I'll have to keep you posted on how it goes using their reward points}

Totally not oversharing! I love travel posts! They are super helpful (obviously to me since I'm busy planning Paris right now, haha). And I know what you mean about having these posts to look back on. I think I blogged about Italy for nearly as many days as we were there three years ago, ha!

Glad you guys liked Royal Caribbean! We've only cruised Princess and Carnival (and liked them both), but I'd like to try RC one of these days as well. :) Most of our cruises have been 5 days (one was 3), but I can't definitely imagine that closing in on 7 would have me starting to feel like I wanted to be home. So that makes sense. But anyway, so glad you guys had a great time! :)

Love love love this!!! Looks like it was an amazing time - I'm drooling over all of the food pictures and so fun to get all dressed up for dinner! This just made me determined that we WILL be taking our cruise we had planned on sooner rather than later lol

Woweeee...guess who else is behind on blog reading and commenting! This looks like such an incredible trip. I loved seeing all your cute bathing suits and especially dresses! And you know, I don't think I've ever stood next to a cruise ship like this in real life. Seeing you next to it...it's HUGE! I mean, in my head I knew they had to be because of all the things they have on there but your pics give it some perspective.

I'm loving all of these photos! I'd love to take a cruise one day so thanks for all the helpful advice up front. The ship looks more like a mall or shopping center and that really surprises me! I love all the relaxing, beach/pool days, and alcohol. I'd go just for that. Lol.

What a great recap! I love how you took so many photos! And all your dresses were gorgeous! I think it's much better to be overdressed, than underdressed, anyway ;) Plus, it's fun to dress up!! I feel like it's so rare to have a reason to do so these days. $400 for the water park?! WHY????! That's insane! I would pay that either, especially with that time crunch. I can't remember - had you been on a cruise before? Would you go again? I've never been...I think I would like it, but I don't know!

If we do another cruise it will be with RC. We went on a Carnival cruise in 2013 and it was honestly really disappointing. I just have to say - you look absolutely stunning in all of your dresses! Seriously. And what's the point of a cruise if you don't overeat and drink?! Haha!! I loved seeing your snaps on this trip. That was a nice little treat in my feed. :)

Well, I was planning to read and comment on this yesterday but obviously I didn't get to it. Better late than never, I guess! :-)

I really love vacation recaps, especially when they cover both fun stuff and practical stuff. (And your recaps definitely do both.) The pictures are fantastic, and I love that you got your lovely sunrise and were able to enjoy it properly!

I honestly didn't know much about cruises before this because they weren't really on my radar. I mean, I knew some basic stuff about them ... But I just never went out of my way to look into them because I figured I would never go on one. (I also had no idea that they could be that huge! I mean, they always look big but I had no clue that many people were on the ship at one time or that it would look like a little city. The restaurant picture from the first night seriously had me going, "Wait ... That's on the SHIP?!?!" It just looks like a regular restaurant in a town.)

Sometimes I think about doing one now, but I don't know when we would go or where we would go. I like that so much is included in the initial price and that you'd get to see several places, but I don't know if I'd feel too rushed at some of the ports. (And I'd worry about missing out on something I wanted to do, like your situation with the Atlantis waterpark.) So ... I don't know.

But the food looks amazing! (And you know I love food!) Maybe that would be enough to sway me eventually. Haha.

Wow your cruise adventures sound amazing...I love all of your daytime fun/relaxing and then you getting dressed up & looking fabulous at night! I've been itching to go on another cruise. I believe St Kitts was a British colony just like Trinidad & Tobago so many things are influenced by them rather than USA.

yay! i was so pumped to read this post! I would love to do a cruise someday! which stop was your favorite out of all of them? sucky you didn't get to go to the water park at the atlantis! it is seriously a blast if you're into water slides and such, but i completely agree with you about the time crunch and the cost. I would have backed out then too. i LOVE both of your long dresses! you looked absolutely stunning!

I've never been on a cruise but this post makes me want to book one! The pictures of your excursions are awesome! The one thing I worry about it getting freaked out being in the middle of the ocean on such a huge boat, but you reassured me it's not so bad! Glad you had fun!

I was never totally sure about going on a cruise, but I have to say that I think reading your post changed my mind. I like that you said it didn't feel crowded on board and that you couldn't really feel the ship sway, especially since I tend to get seasick, but usually on smaller boats in choppy water. I also thought I might be bored on the days at sea, but now I think those days might be good for some relaxation in between being on the go. This was an informative posts and your tips at the end put me at ease!

Chupa Chups!! Those were popular in middle school (I think) in Kansas! I actually tried to find some a couple months ago but those and splashers gum are hard to find now-a-days. I loved seeing all of your pics. Most people in FL have been on cruises and love it. I still haven't but it's on my someday list. Your ship looked AMAZING!! Also just purchased one of those water cases. It had been in my later cart but I want to have it next time I need it now!

What an awesome vacation! I'm so glad you both had a wonderful time. Thanks for sharing all of the details -I've never been on a cruise and read this whole post word for word, as I've been interested in seeing what there like. :)